I woke up this morning at 3:00am. Yep. It seems that jetlag is still trying to kick my butt, and I must say that it is doing a bang-up job. The only good thing that came out of this is that I didn’t get up late for this morning’s appointment. It was an early morning, meeting at 7:00. We left Berlin and went to a neighboring town to visit the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. I am going to do my best to describe this, but it truly is one of those beyond words situations. I tried very hard to put myself in the mindset of someone who was entering this camp as a prisoner, but I have nothing at all to compare it to. Sachsenhausen was first used as a camp for Nazi political prisoners, and then for Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses – anyone who the Nazis eventually persecuted. The camp was liberated by the Soviet and Polish armies near the end of World War II, and it is then that the camp took on a whole other life as a prison for enemies of the German Democratic Republic (that’s East Germany for most of us). The Communists then made the camp into a memorial, but not as it is today in its current state. The Communists used the camp to show the triumph of communism over fascism, and dedicated the camp in memory of those Communists who had died under the guard of the Nazis. They even built a memorial tower taller than the guard towers of the camp to show how Communism “towers over Fascism.” We saw an original barrack, some artifacts from the camp, and lastly, the ovens and mass graves of the camp. It was truly upsetting, but I am nonetheless glad to have seen it. I wish that I could have had a couple more hours there to see everything, but we just didn’t have time. We had to get back to Berlin for our next meeting.
That meeting was at a newspaper office, Der Tagesspiegel. We talked about newspaper publishing in Berlin, and really throughout Germany. Berlin itself has ten daily newspapers, which I thought was a little crazy. After that, we broke off in different directions for lunch. I went to a Turkish restaurant where I had a nice falafel dinner. I like falafel. For someone who hates beans of all kinds, I have for some reason really taken a liking to chickpeas, of which falafel is made. Yummy in the tummy, you know? Then it was back on the bus for our next appointment, which was with the Berlin Sanitation Department. Now admittedly, a lot of us made jokes about this. We really thought that we were headed to watch poo being separated from water and that water being treated, blah blah blah. But, we were really there to learn about Berlin's pretty advanced recycling program. Berlin has a fantastic program for recycling, and this is something we really need to get on in the U.S. Berlin, and Germany really, has greatly reduced the amount of refuse they generate. Excellent stuff.
By this point I thought I was in the throes of death. Exhaustion was creeping up on me, and I was about to drop. My feet and their blisters were acting up, and I was getting cranky. Luckily we got about a 45 minute break at the hotel before heading out again. Some of us were headed to the Charlottenburg Palace to check out a Baroque and Classical music concert. The musicians were all dressed in Baroque costumes, and it was very very nice. After a big dinner (Germans love big dinners, and this is why I love Germans) of pork and spaetzle, the concert was very very relaxing and enjoyable. We headed back to the hotel and got here around 11:30 or so. I was up another 20 minutes trying desperately to catch up on blogging so you guys won't be bored. Aren't I nice?
I am planning on uploading pictures to facebook tonight, as well as possibly flickr for you guys who are not my facebook friends (that would be you, current students). Hopefully it won't take long. It is currently Wednesday morning, and I have to head off for another jam packed day. Tschuss for now (that's "bye") and I will write more later!
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It is an insult to memorialize the handful of anti-societal trouble-seeking JWs alongside the SIX MILLION Jewish Holocaust victims given that Jehovah's Witnesses view the Jews much as did the Nazis.
ReplyDeleteThe WatchTower Cult teaches its own version of "replacement theology", which says that GOD rejected the Jews as His "chosen people", and replaced them with today's "Jehovah's Witnesses". In fact, the title "Jehovah's Witnesses" was originally applied to the Jews by the Prophet Isaiah, and is even quoted on the wall at the entrance to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. The WatchTower Society, in calling its own members "Jehovah's Witnesses" is attempting to steal that designation away from the Jews. The WatchTower Cult even teaches that all of the Bible's promises of restoration for the Jewish people now belongs to the followers of the Cult.
There were only approximately 6000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany during the 1930s-40s. While many of those 6000 German JWs were repeatedly arrested during the 1930s and 1940s, only a fraction were jailed or imprisoned for any significant length of time. Only about 200-300 German JWs lost their lives, and the majority of those died from any number of causes other than having been executed. Approximately 1000 JWs from other European countries lost their lives while incarcerated by the Nazis.
During that same time period, there were more Jehovah's Witnesses arrested and jailed in the United States than in Germany. In fact, from 1941 until 1945, approximately 4500 American Jehovah's Witnesses "elected" to go to prison rather than serve in the U.S. Military and go fight against those same Nazis who were committing those atrocities. Approximately 3000 of those 4500 American JWs were even offered "conscientious objector" status, in which they were offered "non-combatant" work as a substitute, but 99% of those JWs refused to even help that much.
Micky, what an adventure!!! I would love to see what you are seeing and experience these places!!! Thanks so much for sharing! I pray your feet and energy will last the whole trip and that you will be able to take in all that you are being given the opportunity to see.
ReplyDeleteYou know what I find funny? The fact that this JJones person listed above who wrote that very long comment finds it okay that "only about 200-300 German JWs lost their lives." The loss of one life is one too many.
ReplyDeleteStudents, this is precisely why you need to learn about things. Please don't let others' hate blind you. When even one person, regardless of their beliefs, is persecuted against by people who feel that they are morally better, it is one person too many.
Remember always that people are entitled to their beliefs. In the spirit of free speech, I am leaving the above comment in even though I find it ridiculous. That in mind, see that even though I don't agree with this person, I can acknowledge their viewpoint and allow them to have it. Life is too short for hate.
I've changed my mind. I don't find that person funny. I find them sad and a symbol for why we need to embrace everyone on this planet as being worthy of respect.